No. 11 NC State women’s tennis continued its undefeated streak at home in a close 4-3 win over No. 25 Georgia Tech Sunday afternoon. With just six matches left in the regular season, the Wolfpack is closing in on the postseason with its second ranked ACC win under its belt.
While the Yellow Jackets gave NC State a battle, NC State head coach Simon Earnshaw said there was more juice to squeeze from his team’s orange in the win — a win that could have come quicker if not for letting the visitors hang around.
“We could have done better than that; we could have, I’m pretty sure about it,” Earnshaw said. “That could have been a lot more decisive. We just got to be much more ruthless.”
NC State won a relatively simple doubles round early on, but needed a three-set win from sophomore Gabriella Broadfoot in singles on the deciding court to claim victory.
After winning her first set but dropping her second, NC State needed a win from Broadfoot come her third set. The sophomore was in a similar clinch position against then-No. 4 UNC-Chapel Hill last weekend and failed to secure the win. This time around, Broadfoot had a comfortable third-set lead and a positive mindset, both of which helped her clinch the Wolfpack’s win.
“Just staying positive and trying to focus on the things that we’ve been working on, rather than all these negative things, just trying to stay as positive as possible for my teammates — not for myself, but for my teammates,” Broadfoot said. “And then that ended up working in my favor.”
The Wolfpack earned its first point of the day by winning all three of its doubles matches in dominant fashion. Sophomore Kristina Paskauskas and freshman Michaela Laki led the way with a 6-1 win against their opponents.
The nation’s No. 2 pair in Broadfoot and sophomore Maddy Zampardo followed with a 6-2 win, clinching NC State’s first point. The Wolfpack’s final doubles match ended in a 6-2 win from sophomore Jasmine Conway and junior Anna Zyryanova, which gave the Pack a 1-0 lead entering the singles round.
From there NC State and Georgia Tech were locked in a long and intense singles battle on every court. Junior Anna Zyryanova finished first, beating No. 97 Alejandra Cruz in a 6-2, 6-3 result that put NC State up 2-0.
However, Georgia Tech won two straight matches over No. 27 Laki and Paskauskas. While both gave their opponents trouble down the stretch, Laki and Paskauskas were both set down in straight sets, setting the score at 2-2.
With Broadfoot and No. 99 Zampardo both heading into a third set, a first-set comeback from No. 121 freshman Mia Slama on Court 6 proved important to the Pack’s success. Slama eventually won her match 7-5, 6-2, putting NC State into clinch position with more wiggle room. In the final two matches, the Pack needed just one more win, either from Zampardo or Broadfoot.
“It was very important that [Slama] turned hers around in the first set and that didn’t get into the second set, because that was very close to them having four first sets,” Earnshaw said. “And I think we always just had enough, but never as much as I would have liked.”
While Zampardo eventually fell in three sets on Court 3, Broadfoot came through with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Georgia Tech’s Given Roach for the overall victory at 4-3.
Earnshaw emphasized his team’s need to do all the little things correctly and give dedication to the details on and off the court — something that will pay dividends in match results and become increasingly more important as the team prepares to transition to the postseason.
“Everything you do every day leads to this point,” Earnshaw said. “And what happens on this day is the product of all those micro events, the same way a point is the product of a lot of little decisions in their ability to produce a stroke the same way. And you can see it in the matches, when they get a bit overwhelmed or they’re a little bit under-focused or hyper-focused, it changes what happens. That’s the big thing. You’ve got to make sure that all your decisions lead to a positive outcome and give you the best chance to win.”
NC State is set to hit the road one more time during the regular season for a trio of matches in the Sunshine State before returning home for matches with Cal and Stanford.
Broadfoot mentioned her and her team’s urge to continue fighting in each and every match to finish the regular season strong.
“We’re just fighting hard,” Broadfoot said. “We’re all ready to fight really hard. We want to just keep winning as much as we can. Everyone on the team believes in one another, so I think that’s a great thing. We’re excited to just take every match one at a time and just do the best we can with every day that we get.”
NC State will first face Florida State on its road stint Friday. First serve against the Seminoles in Tallahassee, Florida, is set for 4 p.m.
